The inaugural Dublin International Comedy Film Festival launches online in December 2020 and submissions are open now to filmmakers until this Saturday October 31st.
Despite the abundance of festivals taking place every year around Ireland, organisers of the Dublin International Comedy Film Festival were surprised to find that there wasn’t one film festival purely dedicated to comedy. Comedy can often overlooked in favour of drama and other genres when it comes to festival programming.
Award winning filmmaker and actor Maureen O’Connell is aiming to fill that gap in the market and swooped down on this opportunity to give comedy writers and filmmakers a platform to showcase their work while entertaining the viewing public with some well-needed laughs.
Film In Dublin always welcome the addition of new festivals in the fair city of film, and an all-comedy themed festival is a welcome addition to the calendar. Due to current Covid-19 restrictions, the first edition of the Dublin International Comedy Film Festival festival will run online from Thursday 3rd to Friday 4th of December, however the festival does plan to have their guests falling off their seats at the Generator Hostel in 2021.
Selected filmmakers will compete for awards such as the Fleabag Award for Best Screenplay , the Maeve Higgins Award for Best Irish Feature and the Seinfeld Award for Best International Short Film among many other aptly-named awards.
Maureen O’Connell’s debut feature film, the slacker comedy Spa Weekend, has won numerous awards and nominations throughout festivals in Europe. The director and actor has a proven track record in the short film sphere also, with the likes of Proclaim!, Girls and more picking up awards on the Irish festival scene.
Maureen O’Connell:
“Irish people are very funny and the stories they tell and the way they tell them is also very funny. So, having a film festival dedicated to comedy in Ireland seemed to me, a no-brainer!
You have to be braver to make a comedy because if your film screens at a festival and it doesn’t make people laugh- that stings! So, I thought I’d celebrate those of us brave- or indeed stupid enough – to try our hand at comedies!”
The festival is accepting features, short films, web series and sketches from Ireland and around the world now. DICFF is encouraging filmmakers to “be brave” and submit before the deadline. Submissions can be made here before the October 31st deadline.
Check in to Film In Dublin for further details on DICFF in the weeks ahead.